Winter cover up

[marcusn]

In the coming weeks, I'll be wrapping up my baby.
She's new to me this summer, so I've got a question.

She's on 7 stands, a 27' boat. I plan on making a PVC frame, and cover her with tarps.

Question:
How would you tie the tarps down?
a) to stanchions
b) to the jack stands
c) wrap lines under the hull
d) wighted milk jugs

also
Bungees or line?

[CapnHand]

Mine is tied down with lines to the frame of my cradle. Seems like your jack stands aren't fixed to a frame. In that case I would wrap lines under the hull.

[k1vsk]

Bad idea to tie to the stands; either wrap under hull or use jugs but doing the latter with water in them is also a bad idea for obvious reasons.

[sailingfool]

Seems you would want to tie under the hull, however be sure to your frame support your cover and that your stanchions don't or a good snowfall may bend or break something.

(PS - I assume your boat is not painted, as you would not want to cover the hull of a painted boat...)

[DrB]

Every yard that I know of explicity states nothing gets tied to the jack stands.

Water in the jug is also a bad idea. Water freezes, expands, cracks jug, thaws, drains out, then is useless. Use sand or mortar if you want to fill with something heavy.

Most folks that I know either tied under hull or cover deck only and tie to stanchions

DrB

[sailingdog]

Don't ever tie the lines to the jack stands... the wind can cause enough of a strain to pull the jack stands out of alignment and the boat can tip over in that case.

Either tie it under the hull per USCGret's suggestion of use bottles fill half-way with water. This way the water won't burst the jug, and drain out.

[SEMIJim]

Another weighted solution, albeit somewhat more expensive than milk jugs, would be a variation on what I used to use on my inverted-V and long-wire antennas. They were anchored to trees--the inverted-V at its apex and the long-wire at each end. The problem was how to keep the antennas reasonably tight yet allow the trees to move. Solution: A pulley (a block, to you sailors ) and a bucket with holes drilled in the bottom for water drainage, filled with the desired amount of rock for weight. The line on for the inverted-V was tied to the apex and ran around the pulley above. The line for the long-wire was simply fastened to one end, with the pulley secured to the tree. Worked like a champ.

I plan to run line through the tarp, under the boat, from side-to-side, as USCGRET1990 suggests.

Jim

[USCGRET1990]

Winter winds and esp Nor Easters have tremendous strength and can launched tarps with weights into the next county. If any part of the tied down tarp luffs in the wind, tie something accross it, or it will soon shred into a big hole.

[dave6330]

No one ties off to the toe rail? I cover my hatch and cockpit with a tarp bungied to the toe rails...makes geting in and out during the winter kind of a pain but it keeps the hatch clear of snow and stands up to the williwaws.

[christyleigh]

I don't know where you are but my only suggestion would be to make the frame twice as strong as you think you need. Prepare for a foot of the wettest heaviest snow you can imagine. I didn't one year and along with half the marina had a partial to total failure of my framework and had to do way too many multi-hundred pound squats under the tarp to get the tons of snow off..... and then repair the frame. Any little sag is a problem waiting for a sticky snow storm. I think that also makes it obvious - forget the bungis.